Fellowship is Madness

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

The Art of the Dress

Rarity smiled at the five outfits hanging on ponyquins, three dresses, one suit, and one hybrid of the two for the Thestral. That had been an interesting project to work on, as it was something she had never done before. For five of the Elements of Harmony, the sixth being required by decorum to wear his armor to the Gala, designing clothing was practically a dream come true. Gala dresses were a request that came about once in a decade or so for most tailors. Four at once was unheard of for all but the most prestigious tailors. She had spent two weeks pouring her heart and soul into these dresses, and that suit, and now it was time to show them off. The five, and the Guardspony, all arrived exactly on time. Exactly as was intended, they lined up across from the matching ponyquin, positioned by the Guardspony as their eyes were closed.

“Ok, everypony. You can look now.”

Five pairs of eyes opened, and five jaws dropped.

“What do you think? Very pretty, are they not? I made each outfit just for you, themed specifically to fit your own specific personality. Oh, it took forever to match the colors to your coat, Kajiik. You would think black and white is easy, but in stripes, it really isn’t. And they all turned out so beautiful, don’t you think?”

Kajiik looked at his suit, a black jacket with black striping down the back and sleeves, and a white bowtie in the front. It was amazing, and even had runic patterns embellished in the weave. He recognized most of them, “Rarity, is this why you borrowed my book on runes?”

“Yes…”

Fleethoof somehow managed to slip hers off the dummy and onto herself in a blink, “I love it! It’s beautiful. How does my flank look?” She shook it to show off, and Kajiik nodded dumbly.

Blueberry Jam poked at hers, “What are these funny little flaps here?” She lifted a flap on the back, “They’ll expose my back.”

“Yes. Kajiik told me you had a little spell that would give you wings temporarily, so I added those in case you felt like showing off a little bit,” Rarity had a slightly smug overtone tucked into her words, but it fell in with absolute faith in her words being truth.

They were, of course. Blueberry might very well wish to show off her wings. In fact, she was planning on it, if only to test the waters for when the Changelings officially revealed themselves. She just hadn’t told the others about it, “Yes, well, I might not, and I have the feeling revealing my back while dancing will be inappropriate.” She leaned in closely, and whispered, “Can you button them closed?”

Rarity smiled, and whispered back, “I will certainly try.”

Barkskin admired her dress, a blue and brown, draping thing that had thick ruffles in it. It would be near enough to impossible to tell that she was an athletic Unicorn under there, possibly even make her figure look fuller, like the rich nobles liked, “It’s a little floofy. Can you cut back the ruffles a little? I’d like to be able to move in the thing.”

Rarity took a note on a piece of paper floating in her magic, as Hammer Soot approached the final ponyquin.

The Thestral began examining the fabric, rubbing it against her leathery wing, “This will tear. And the sleeves are not going to be in very good condition after my talons are through with them.”

Rarity’s eyes dimmed, and began to collect water at the base, until Kajiik stepped over to her and put his hoof around her shoulder, “Rarity, perhaps there is some canvas, or even some leather in your stocks?”

Through barely held back tears, Rarity smiled, “Yes, I believe I do. Thank you Kajiik.”
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Barkskin stepped into the boutique, “Rarity, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, dear. I finished the modifications you requested. Would you like to look at it?”

The modified dress was much less billowy, revealing her arms and part of her chest. The cut was low enough that Barkskin feared it would be too revealing, “Uh…How low is the waist cut?”

“Don’t worry darling, I made sure it would cover you up. I got all your measurements.”

Barkskin sputtered, “From who?”

“Iron Hoof. He’s really quite good at measuring things. I’d almost say his special talent was measuring, if I didn’t know any better,” Rarity smiled, “Anyway, what do you think?”

“It’s nice…A little more fluff than I’m used to. And my arms would be bare. I don’t do that…”

“Well why not? All the work you do, your arms will have fine definition, a prize for any stallion.”

Barkskin sighed, and pushed up her left sleeve, revealing a pattern of missing fur and scars, “Uh, I didn’t really have the best um…How do I put this…My childhood was…Rough…”

“Oh, of course. I shall fix that immediately. How do you feel about bracelets? A pair of fine copper sleeves?”

“Thank you Rarity.”
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“I brought over some more references for my suit, specific runes that will not only look dramatic, but also be entirely harmless should they activate at the Gala.”

“Of course dear. Anything else?”

“Can you get rid of the stripes? It makes my head hurt thinking what that will look like on the floor.”

Rarity nodded.
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“Can you make it bouncier? I need it bouncier.”
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“These bracelets will break the first time I land on them. Can’t they be made of something stronger than glass?” Blueberry looked at the shoe floating in her magic. Her steel work shoe was larger, and without a doubt would punch holes in the fragile glass with ease. She needed something sturdier so she wouldn’t have to pull out all of the nails before putting on the glass shoes, “And of course, my steel shoes will not be coming off for just the one night. I won’t have enough time logged on this quad to safely get re-shod.”

Rarity smiled, but inside she was screaming. Yes, the customer was always right, but sometimes they forgot that this was for the Grand Galloping Gala. One cannot simply wear work shoes there. Even the workers would plan months in advance to give their hooves time to grow out adequately. As it was, she had to work around normal shoes, but the heavy work-shoes of the farm mare were massive enough to require completely custom shoes with a split heel to distribute the weight evenly. Unicorns were fairly light normally, but farm ponies were generally hefty, even the Unicorns, simply because of the way growth magic worked. Still, she nodded, and ushered the purple Unicorn out the door.
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Hammer Soot. Now her dress was a pain. The skirt had to be durable enough to resist the dance floor, and any accidental brushes of those talons. The jacket had to be the same, though some clever work with leather and silk and she could conceal the talons, blunt them a bit without compromising the design of the whole thing. The gloves would have to be subtle, gilded silk perhaps? Yes, of course. That would work.

The test fitting went well, though she had to adjust the seams along the joints, “And you’ll have to remove the spiked elbows before you put the gloves on, or they’ll tear right through.”

Hammer nodded, “Of course.”

Fortunately for Rarity, Hammer Soot was an easy customer. Durable, and nothing else really mattered.
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“What do you mean ‘Hoity Toity the Fashion Designer is in town and wants to see my designs!?’ They aren’t ready!” She looked at the mailmare, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, I didn’t mean to shout, I’m just…I don’t know what to do.”

The yellow Pegasus nodded, “It’s alright Rarity. I was kind of hoping to see it too. If that’s alright.”

“Yes of course, dear. I would be happy to have an audience.”
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Rarity peeked past the curtain, then back at the four mares and Kajiik, “Ok. It looks like the crowd is ready. You remember what I told you, right?”

Kajiik stepped up and shook his head, tossing his mane to one side before pushing past the curtain and into the lights. It was so bright he couldn’t see anything, but he kept his head high and took five steps exactly, then stepped backwards one, reared up and kicked at the air before dropping back down and spinning. Three backward steps to show off, and a quick trot back into the shelter of the back-stage area. As he passed through, he tapped Hammer Soot on the shoulder.

The Thestral took seven steps, as planned, eye closed entirely. Her eye-patch had been replaced with an embroidered black leather one that matched her mane near enough that the entire left side of her face melted into the black color of her mane. Her talons clicked softly through the gloves as she rose, wings outstretched, onto her rear hooves. The skirt billowed out as she gave a twirl and launched into the air. As planned, she landed in a sweeping bow and spun on her left talon before trotting off-stage and opening her eyes, “Blueberry.”

Blueberry Jam slipped out onto the catwalk, making sure that she didn’t shake the snaps too much, so they wouldn’t rattle until it was time. Two twirls to show off the dress itself, then her wings snapped out in a blaze of green fire, pushing past the snaps and bringing her to all fours facing the other way. She too trotted off the stage quickly, diving under Fleethoof.

The party Pegasus soared out to the end and alighted on the raised director’s box, dress fluffing out around the half-platform. With a twirl, it rose into the air again, sparkling as the gold ribbon concealed in the ruffles was exposed. She landed on all fours and back-stepped twice, rising to her rear hooves and bowing. Even on two legs, she was nimble enough to step back twice, then forward three steps before returning to all fours and trotting off the stage.

Last up was Barkskin, still worrying her new bracelets as she trotted out. She raised her head and spun, throwing the pleats and ruffles into the air as she whirled. As athletic as she was, the ability to balance on her forehooves had come up once or twice, and she did that now, walking on her forehooves as the dress folded around her, revealing the dark green fabric underneath the main skirt. A flip at the end put her back on her rear hooves, and she bowed to Hoity Toity and backstepped four times exactly. One step forward for balance, and she froze, looking out at the audience for a long moment before nearly teleporting herself back behind the curtain, moving so fast it left after-images.
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“What was that, Barkskin? You just froze up there,” Kajiik was concerned because he had never seen the weather mare pause for anything, and wanted to get to the bottom of it quickly.

She gave him a sad smile, “I wish I could tell you…” her front hooves crossed, pressing the bracelets together and tucking them back into the ruffles, “I’m sorry.”

“Who was it.”

“I can’t tell you. And don’t try to make Iron get a name either. It isn’t Guard business.”